The use of the Internet has become widespread over the last decade. An important use of the Internet is e-commerce. One form of e-commerce conducted over the internet involves advertising goods and services on websites. The advertising may be performed on the website of the provider of the goods/services, or may take the form of “ads” placed on the websites of others and/or in banners or pop-ups.
An advantage of advertising on the Internet is that the Internet facilitates communication between a potential customer who views the advertisement and the provider of goods and services in ways that traditional media such as print, radio and television do not. This communication can take many forms. For example, some websites provide a link that, when activated, will create a draft email addressed to the provider associated with the email. The potential customer can then type in his/her contact information and possibly information about the product or service in which the customer is interested along with any other comments they wish to make. The potential customer then sends the email to the provider.
Another form of communication allows a customer to request a contact from a sales agent by entering identification information (e.g., phone number, email address, mailing address, etc.) on a form provided by a website. This information is then forwarded to the sales agent, often in the form of an email or other electronic information, so that the sales agent can contact the potential customer.
Yet another form of communication involves the provision of a link or icon that, when activated by a potential customer, results in the initiation of a phone call between the potential user and the provider. Examples of such techniques can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,707,811, commonly owned by the assignee of the present application the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein. It should be noted that such phone calls can take the form of call back (i.e., the customer provides a telephone number at which they desire to be called regarding the product/service) phone calls conducted entirely over the PSTN (public switched network), pure VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) calls, or mixed VOIP calls in which one party is connected to the call via the PSTN and the other party (typically the customer) is connected via the Internet using their computer speakers and microphone.
It has been discovered that the aforementioned communication techniques are not always desirable and/or effective. In particular, when email is chosen as the form of communication to notify the sales agent of the customer's desire for information/contact, it has been discovered that the email notifications will often go unanswered for unacceptably long periods if they are answered at all. While there are many potential causes for this poor response (messages may get missed due to inboxes crowded with junk mail; lack of access to, or comfort with, email on the part of sales agents; etc.), the problem is real regardless of the cause. In the case of a PSTN call back or VOIP or mixed VOIP call, providing information to the sales agent about the customer and about the product in which they are interested can be problematic. While the aforementioned patent provides techniques that may be used with a sophisticated customer service call center, many smaller businesses rely on simple PSTN telephone communications. In such a situation, the sales agent must obtain the customer identification and product information from the consumer when a PSTN call back or VOIP call is initiated. This can be annoying to potential customers.